The present invention relates to resilient supports.
Resilient supports having a laminate structure are known, i.e. formed by a succession of alternate elastomer layers adhered to metal layers, normally made from steel.
Such a structure is intended especially to operate under shearing conditions, i.e. to be subjected to forces perpendicular to the stacking axis (or direction ) formed by the superpositioning (or juxtapositioning) of the different layers (although the structure may also work under compression as well as under traction, but to a lesser extent).
However, a laminate structure support of the above type does not allow appreciable deflections to be obtained under a low load, for a given size: e.g. under a load of 1 to 10 daN, deflections of only 10 to 30 mm under shearing conditions are obtained.
Now, the need of resilient supports allowing appreciable deflection movements, under a low load and for a given size is felt in different technical fields, in particular, but in no way limitative, for protecting airborne electronic equipment in the case of accidental collisions or explosions: in fact, under these circumstances, it is necessary to have supports with not only a large ability to absorb shocks but also the ability to "accompany" or "follow" the shock wave.
As far as the above laminate structure supports are concerned, another drawback should be mentioned, in that their behavior is far from being isotropic with respect to the three orthogonal directions of a Cartesian reference system; in particular, the behavior under compression/traction forces along the axis of the stack of alternate elastomer/metal layers is not comparable to the behavior under shearing forces along the two axes perpendicular to each other and to the axis of the stack in question, particularly because of the presence of stiffness which is too high in this latter direction.
In addition, the drawback should be noted related to the presence of a buckling phenomenon of the metal layers.